Mike Ashley - The Mammoth Book of New Sherlock Holmes Adventures

There have been many attempts at producing a definitive chronology of Sherlock Holmes's career, and whilst they may agree on some things many also beg to differ. This list is probably no different in that respect, but it is what I believe to be the position so far as I know it.

The list covers all known cases in which Holmes was involved, and attempts to date them as accurately as possible. The stories in bold print are the sixty stories in the original Doyle canon. Those in italics are the unrecorded cases noted by Watson. Where these cases have been written up by others their authorship is noted. Those in normal roman print are new (i.e. apocryphal) cases, not mentioned by Watson, but subsequently identified by others as found amongst Watson's papers. This last list is not exclusive, as I have deliberately left out those cases which concentrate on other characters (e.g. Irene Adler, Billy the Page, Inspector Lestrade, Moriarty or Mrs Hudson) or which are very evident spoofs and not to be taken seriously, such as involvement with fictional characters created by others, like Dracula or Fu Manchu. There are also many minor pastiches that weren't worth listing plus, I am sure, many others of which I don't have copies.

The stories included in this anthology are shown in small capitals.

1853/4

Sherlock Holmes born. In "His Last Bow" (a case which began in 1912) Holmes is described as "a man of sixty". No location is given in the canon.

1872

Likely date at which Holmes goes to college. No college is mentioned in the canon although research suggests that Trinity College, Dublin and Oxford are the most likely.

1873/4

Likely date of "The Gloria Scott" (Holmes talks of his "two years at college"). This was the case that Holmes states first turned his attention to the idea of detection as a profession. Also the dating of "The Affray at the Kildare Street Club" and "The Bothersome Business of the Dutch Nativity."

1875

Holmes became aware of the puzzle of "the disappearance of James Phillimore" though the case was not concluded until 1906. Note also the apocryphal cases written as "The Highgate Miracle" by John Dickson Carr and set in December 1893, though this date is clearly wrong, and "The Case of the Vanishing Head-Waiter" by June Thomson.

1877

Holmes settles in rooms in Montague Street, London, spending most of his time studying various branches of science. "Now and again" cases came his way. He does not mention the first two but the third was "The Musgrave Ritual", likely to have happened in 1878.

1878/80

Holmes investigates many cases, only a few of which are referred to. These include "The Tarleton Murders", "Vamberry, the Wine Merchant" [written up by A. Lloyd Taylor]; "The Adventure of the Old Russian Woman" [written up as "The Case of the Old Russian Woman" by June Thomson], " The Singular Affair of the Aluminium Crutch" [written up by several writers including H. Bedford-Jones], and "Ricoletti of the dub-foot and his abominable wife". Other stories may be set at this time, especially those listed in "The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire" where Holmes's comments suggest thatWatson was not aware of the cases. These include "Victor Lynch the Forge', "Venomous Lizard or Gila", "Vanderbilt and the Yeggman" [written up as "The Case of the Itinerant Yeggman" by JuneThomson but dated June 1895 and to which she adds a sequel, "The Case of the Maplestead Magpie"] and "Vigor, the Hammersmith Wonder" [written up as "The Case of the Hammersmith Wonder" by June Thomson but set in the early days with Watson; it is also incorporated in "The Case of the Paradol Chamber" by Alan Wilson]. In "The Speckled Band" Holmes is reminded of the case of "Mrs Farintosh and the Opal Tiara" which was "before your time Watson". Also to this period may be the cases referred to in "The Empty House", especially "Mathews, who knocked out my left canine in the waiting-room at Charing Cross", since Holmes needs to explain it to Watson, and perhaps also "Merridew of Abominable Memory". Mortimer Mabley, referred to in "The Three Gables" was also one of Holmes's earliest clients.

1880

July. The setting of "The Adventure of the Stalwart Companions" by H. Paul Jeffers in which Holmes andTheodore Roosevelt are involved in a US murder. This case has some possibilities but I regard it as highly apocryphal.

1881

January. Holmes and Watson meet. In the first few weeks at 221b Baker Street Watson observes various visitors, whose cases are not discussed. These include "a young girl, fashionably dressed", a "Jewish peddler", "a slipshod elderly woman", "an old white-haired gentleman" and "a railway porter". There were also several visits by the police, especially by Lestrade, and Holmes later refers to helping him with "a forgery case".

March. "A Study in Scarlet".

October."The Resident Patient".

1882

February. "The Beryl Coronet". Despite the argument by some commentators that no snow fell in London in February that year, this is clearly an early case because Watson is still a little surprised that Holmes urged him to accompany him. This month is almost certainly the setting for "Sherlock Holmes and the Case of Sabina Hall" by L.B. Greenwood. Winter. "The Devil's Tunnel" by John Taylor.

1883

March. "Sherlock Holmes and the Somerset Hunt" by Rosemary Michaud.

April. "The Speckled Band".

Summer. Uncertain date but likely time for "The Wandering Corpse" by John Taylor.

1884

The Missing Year. It is possible that this was the year of the cases. known as "The Delicate Case of the King of Scandinavia" and "The Service of Lord Backwater".

1885

January. "The Case of the Incumbent Invalid" based on "the dreadful business of the Abernetty family". April/May. "The Copper Beeches". Although set by many commentators in April 1890, this is clearly an earlier case into which Watson slipped references to later cases for the purposes of his introductory argument.

1886

April. "The Yellow Face". This is the earliest case to make reference to Holmes's cocaine habit, though Watson had clearly known about it for some while. This year probably saw other cases alluded to by Watson including "The Woman at Margate", "The Darlington Substitution Scandal", "The Arnsworth Castle Business" [written up as "The Adventure of the Red Widow" by Adrian Conan Doyle], "Vittoria, the Circus Belle" and "The Adventure of the Suspect Servant."

1887

In "The Five Orange Pips" Watson refers to a long series of cases in • 1887 including "The Paradol Chamber" [written up as "The Case of the Paradol Chamber" by Alan Wilson who linked it with Vigor the Hammersmith Wonder; and also by June Thomson who set it in November 1887 just after Watson's marriage]; "The Adventure of the Amateur Mendicant Society" [also written up as "The Case of the Amateur Mendicants" by June Thomson set in June 1887 and under the same title by Ken Greenwald, set in November 1887]; "the loss of the British bark Sophy Anderson", "the singular adventures of the Grice Paterson in the island of Uffa" (included here as "The Adventure of the Silver Buckle") and "the Camberwell poisoning case" [recorded as "The Adventure of the Gold Hunter" by Adrian Conan Doyle and John Dickson Carr, and as "The Case of the Camberwell Poisoning" by June Thomson where it is set in Spring 1887 but confusingly after Watson's marriage, and as "The Case of the Camberwell Poisoners" by Ken Greenwald set in October 1887]. Also during this year was the "death of Mrs Stewart of Lauder" in which Holmes suspected Colonel Moran to be involved. In "The Norwood Builder" Holmes reminds Watson of the case of "the terrible murderer, Bert Stevens" who wanted Holmes to get him off. 1887 was probably also the year of the "Tankerville Club scandal" where Major Prendergast was accused of cheating at cards; it may also have been the year of "The Bishopgate Jewel Case" which Holmes later used as an example in his lectures; and quite likely the year when Holmes and Watson captured "Archie Stamford, the forger" an episode referred to in "The Solitary Cyclist". January. "Charles Augustus Milverton". Although included in The Return of Sherlock Holmes, this story has all the feel of a pre-Hiatus story. Watson needs introducing as a "friend", meaning his work was not well known at that time, but he was sufficiently close to Holmes to be referred to as a "partner" and for Holmes to state that "we have shared this same room for some years". Watson introduces the story by saying "it is years since the incidents… took place."